


Lost in the woods

by perpetuallymanascrewed



Category: Maximum Ride - James Patterson
Genre: Don't Examine This Too Closely, F/M, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, POV Alternating, Post Book 3, Wilderness Survival
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2020-03-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:01:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22989778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perpetuallymanascrewed/pseuds/perpetuallymanascrewed
Summary: Follows the stories of the children Max meets in the swamp in book 2, and other (often nameless) side characters from the series.I feel bad for Ari.
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue

I wake up lying on the ground, The girl I escaped with still next to me. There's some food on the floor that those guys with wings left behind. Seems to be enough to last us about A day.

Or two days, If it's just me.

She's never going to survive out here anyway. She hasn't got up yet, so I assume that she's dead (mostly to make myself feel less bad if I leave her here to die and she was still alive), pick up the food, and start walking. Something grabs my ankle, and I fall to the ground. It takes me a second to realise that it's her. 

"You were going to leave me to die?" she asks.

"Apparently." I respond.

"Shame you didn't follow through with it." She says, stands up, and kicks me in the stomach. "One of us has to."

She barely makes it three steps before he falls over. Must've injured her leg at some point. Now would be the perfect time to leave her, but I'm too soft. She's about ten, same age as me. I help her stand up.

"Idiot."

That's all the thanks I get. 


	2. Chapter 2

We walk for what seems like hours through waist-height water, eventually arriving at an island in the middle of the swamp. I collapse to the ground.

"Why did you save me?" It takes me a moment to regain any awareness of reality and another one to realise that it's her speaking.

"I don't know." I admit.

"You're an idiot." She says. "If I was the one with no injuries, I would have taken all the food and walked away."

"Yes, well you _are_ the one with injuries, and you're only going to survive if I help you to." I say.

"If you were smart, you would have left me. The food would last you for days on your own." 

"Good thing for you that I'm not smart." That gets her to shut up.

"I guess you're right." She says, an unknown amount of time later. "People like me need people like you around."

"what's that supposed to mean?" I ask.

"People like me, who don't give a fuck about others, need people like you around, who do. Otherwise we're never going to get anywhere."

Right. That was her view of the situation.

I'm going to leave her here. See how she likes it when I don't give a fuck about _her._

I try to stand. I'm too exhausted.

I fall asleep instantly.


End file.
